Integrated engineering system that combines multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to achieve a new method of aviation transportation

ABSTRACT

An integrated engineering system integrating multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system for a new method of aviation transportation by drones. These drones can be used either for passenger transportation or for parcel delivery. These drones may fly to land onto or fly to attach to the carriers of Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system then travel a distance with said carriers as a unified object. This integrated engineering system facilitates a new method of aviation transportation by drones by uplifting the limit of maximum travel distance of these special design drones, hence makes the drone a more practical tool for future aviation transportation within a city or between the cities. Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may includes multiple routes to form a network to increase the potential destinations for drones.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT (IF APPLICABLE)

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to an integrated engineering system which is based in a combination of multiple drones and an innovative Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system into one system. Therein said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may transport said drones in the middle of their flying journey to increase the maximum total travel distance of said drones, hence make aviation transportation by drones a more practical way for daily aviation transit in the cities or between cities to go against the limitation of electricity density of battery or limited capacity of fuel tank of said drone its own.

This invention is to achieve a new method of aviation transportation by drones, either for passenger transportation or for parcel delivery, which will be explained more precisely in Details of the Invention.

In this invention an Electro-Mechanical engineering system is defined as a system combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. The phrase of “Electro-Mechanical” focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems interact with each other.

Being specific, this Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be either in a form of a Magnetic Levitation rail system, or a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology, or an Electro-Mechanical suspension cable system, or a hybrid of any of above.

In this invention Magnetic Levitation (Maglev as abbreviation for Magnetic Levitation) rail system are defined as a system of train transportation that uses two sets of magnets, one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated Maglev train ahead, taking advantage of the lack of friction. The earliest Maglev rail system and its related technology was originated in Germany.

In this invention these trains floating on Maglev rail can be special-designed to be very short in length, so that the train may even only host one drone to land on the top of this Maglev train for a ride. Of course the train can be longer in length so it can host several drones for a ride at a time.

In this invention a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology is defined as a transportation system that typically includes single rail or two parallel rails, or even more parallel rails, so that Electro-Mechanical trains on the rail may travel forward meanwhile give said drones a ride. In this invention said drone may fly by itself then land on or attach to special-designed train then travel forward with the train as a unified object.

In this invention Electro-Mechanical suspension cable system is defined as a type of Electro-Mechanical system that rotates an endless suspension cable so that everything attaching to this cable may move forward in one direction. A typical Electro-Mechanical suspension cable system is the cable car system nowadays which often can be seen in ski resorts. In this invention, said drone may fly by itself from the location of departure then attach itself to said suspension cable via a docking device, so that said drone can travel forward on this rotating suspension cable system like a cable car nowadays to save or avoid using energy of said drone its own.

In this invention drones are defined as a type of powered aircraft that sustains flight mainly through remote control, on-board autopilot control or control by a pilot. They are also often referred to a type of drone which can lift itself up, fly or hover with typically four or six or even more axis, each axis includes a motor and a set of propeller, to enable the drone lift up or land nearly in vertical direction, these drones are also called as multi-copter, while its four-axis version is also often called as Quad-copter or Quadrone. In this invention said drones can be electrical battery powered, or in some cases, fuel powered, hydrogen powered or fuel cell powered, or a hybrid of any of above.

As being said above, said multiple drones being transported by said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system are physically being transported by its trains, or its Maglev trains, or its cable-car. In this invention these Trains, or Maglev Trains, or Cable Cars are called as “the Carriers”.

That is to say if it is being said in reversed way, in this invention the carriers on said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be referred to a special-designed autopilot or manually-operated Maglev Train if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a Maglev rail system; or can be referred to a special-designed autopilot or manually-operated Electro-Mechanical train if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology; or can be referred to a cable car if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a suspension cable car system.

Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may includes multiple carriers, even thousands of them. That is to say, there can be as many as hundreds of or thousands of carriers moving along said rail, or said Maglev rail or said suspension cable simultaneously, to host thousands of drones and give them a ride at. one time, like the scenario of thousands of cars you will see in the freeway system nowadays.

Said drones in this invention may not be those industrial or commercial drones available in the market nowadays when the patent document is written, that is to say, those industrial or commercial drones nowadays may not be directly comply with or may not be directly integrated into this invented engineering system.

Being specific, each of said drones have a build-in wireless communicating module or device so that each of said drone may communicate with other drones in this invented integrated engineering system, to avoid collision with each other in the air; Meanwhile each of said drone may communicate with said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system directly or indirectly, so that each of said drones can make a reservation for a carrier in vacancy prior to its landing or attaching.

Therein the phrase of “directly or indirectly” means that each of said drones may either directly communicate with said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to make a reservation, or via a central computer system or information system of this invented system, mostly likely a computer server or a computer server cluster, to make a reservation for a carrier.

Said wireless communication modules or devices related with this integrated system can be based on 4G, 5G or any other wireless technologies. Usually there will be a unified wireless communicating protocol among all communicating devices being included in this invented integrated engineering system so that every participant of the invented system, such as said drones, said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, as well as said carriers, may exchange unencrypted and encrypted data among them. In a nut shell, in this integrated engineering system the wireless communication plays a key role to combine multiple drones and a Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system into one system.

Also each of said drones in this invention may have a docking device so that said drone may land on or attach to the carrier of Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system firmly. Said drones related with this invented system may look different in shape and in color as they might be manufactured by different drone makers, however said drones of the invention may have unified docking device so they can dock to any of carriers on said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system.

Current commercial drones or industrial drones for passenger or parcel transportation are either in concept validation stage or in product development stage, while some development teams have claimed that these commercial or industrial drones may carry up to two passengers and travel up to 30-40 km at ideal weather condition, but still, there is a major problem for current drones with its flight sustainability: traditional drone uses significant portion of its battery power to offset gravity of the Earth to keep itself remaining in the air during flight, also it is extremely difficult to trade-off between the weight of the battery and the limit of maximum flight distance, if said drone in this invention is powered by electricity. That is why the most of electrical car nowadays can travel more than 500 kilometers at a time meanwhile those traditional drones can only travel a distance which is only approximately 1/15 of that of an electrical car. That is to say, with the limit of energy density of battery technology nowadays, current flight sustainability of industrial or commercial drones is fundamentally insufficient to make themselves a practical tool for transportation against all weather conditions.

While this invention facilitates such a new method of aviation transportation, by giving said drones a ride in the middle of their flight, said drone transportation system may help drone to dramatically uplift its maximum flight distance.

By lifting the limit of maximum travel distance of a drone, this invention may fundamentally reshape future transportation, such as the aviation transportation in the city or between the cities, because said drones may simply need to fly a short distance to the nearest route of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system then let the carriers of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to transport said drone to complete the rest of the journey.

In the future a city may both have a freeway system for vehicles and an integrated engineering system of this invention for drones. These two transportation systems may co-exist in a city and mutually complement each other for a stereoscopic transportation system and make transportation in the future a very different one from that of nowadays. In the future this invention may also help human beings to expand livable territory to those mountainous area because said drones in this invention may take place of the transportation system vehicles based on road system and vehicles.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to an integrated engineering system that combines multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system which may transport said drones, into one system. Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be either in a form of an Electro-Mechanical suspension cable system; or a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology, or a Magnetic Levitation rail system, or a hybrid of any of above.

In the middle of flying journey, said drones can be transported either by Maglev trains, or by railway trains, or by Cable cars, of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system. These three types of transportation vehicles can be sorted as “rider”.

This invention is invented for a new method of aviation transportation by drones, either for passenger transportation or for parcel delivery.

By being transported by such an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, said drones may save their own energy expenditure per mile traveled hence increase the maximum travel distance and flying sustainability.

A new method of aviation transportation of drones in this invention can be described as follow: A drone lifts off from the location of departure, flies for a distance in the air by itself, then fly-to-attach to or fly-to-land onto a moving carrier of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, then said drone may move forward together with said carrier as a unified object.

Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may includes multiple routes to form a network of routes, so that said drone may switch its travel path from one route to another during the journey, to reach more potential destinations. That is similar with the scenario of a passenger travelling in New York City subway system which includes multiple routes of subway lines. Upon getting closer to its destination, said drone may detach itself or lift off from said carrier then fly by itself in the air, and eventually land itself on its final destination.

The impact of uplifting the drones' travel sustainability is not only to make drones travel a greater distance to reach a further destination, but also to make a drone travel safer against all weather conditions. This invention may reshape the future transportation in the city or between cities, it may also expand the livable areas for human on Earth because those mountainous terrains may become more livable since such an invented drone aviation transportation method can take place of the role of road, freeway system for passenger and cargo transportation, while road and freeway system usually require less-mountainous terrain.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1: This drawing shows an engineering system of this invention involving multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, therein said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a Electro-Mechanical suspension cable-car system, to facilitate a new method of aviation transportation either for passenger transportation or for parcel delivery. In this drawing said drone takes off from the starting point, fly a distance, then attaches itself to said suspended cable-car system by attaching to a special designed cable-car, or a docking device, or a hook, or an electromagnetic connector, then said drone travels forward along the moving cable of said suspension cable-car system which is driven by electrical motors are rotating to keep the cable and the cable cars moving forward, to save energy expenditure of said drone. After traveling a distance along the cable, said drone may detach itself from said cable-car or docking device or hook, then fly by itself to land on destination.

FIG. 2: This drawing shows an engineering system of this invention involving multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, therein said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a Magnetic Levitation railway system or an Electro-Mechanical railway system, to facilitate a new method of aviation transportation either for passenger or for parcel delivery. In this drawing said drone takes off from the starting point, after a flight, it land on a carrier, which may be a Maglev train or a railway train, of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, then said drone travels forward along with said Maglev train, to avoid using energy reserve of said drone its own. After traveling a distance along the rail or Maglev rail, said drone may take off from the carrier of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, then fly by itself to land on destination.

FIG. 3: This drawing shows an engineering system of this invention includes multiple routes of either magnetic levitation rail or Electro-Mechanical railway or suspension cable-car system. These routes form a network so that said drones may switch from one route to another to reach or get close to more potential destinations. The switching point. is usually near the intersection of two routes. This drawing shows how a drone travels and switches from route 1 to route 3 to reach a destination near route 3.

FIG. 4: This drawing shows the battery of said drone is being charged while said drone is traveling along said drone transportation system which can be either a suspension cable system, or a railway system, or magnetic levitation system. The electrical charging device to charge electricity toward the drones may either stay put or travel with the drones, to ensure sustainable electricity charging;

FIG. 5: This drawing shows a drone with injection engine which is designed to fly on extraterrestrial planets, and this invented engineering system with multiple drones may work on extraterrestrial plants for logistics or passenger transit purpose etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVETION

This invention is related to an engineering system that integrates multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system which can transport drones.

Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be either in a form of an Electro-Mechanical suspension cable system, or a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology, or a Magnetic Levitation rail system, or a hybrid of any of above.

Said drones and said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system are integrated by special-designed docking devices, wireless communicating devices and an dispatch system etc. so that the drones and said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may work together accordingly to achieve a new method of aviation transportation by drones.

Said new method of aviation transportation by drones can be described as follows: A drone takes off from location of departure, flies a distance, then attaches itself to or lands itself onto a carrier of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, then said drones may travel forward together with said carrier as a unified object. This new method of aviation transportation helps drone to save its energy consumption during travel hence uplifts the maximum travel distance of a drone.

Usually said drones fly within a certain range of altitude which is legally regulated for drones in that region, for example within a range of 300 ft-600ft altitude. Also usually said drones take off or land vertically according to the prevailing flight regulations for commercial drones.

Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may include multiple carriers which are running along either cable, or rail, or Magnetic Levitation rail, so each of said drones may fly to attach itself to or land itself onto a carrier, then the carrier may carry the drone to travel forward as a unified object along the cable, or rail, or Maglev rail.

In this invention, the carrier on said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be referred to a special-designed Magnetic Levitation Train if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a Magnetic Levitation rail system; or a special-designed railway train if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a railway system based on Electro-Mechanical technology; or a movable docking device or a cable car if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a suspension cable car system.

However said Magnetic Levitation Train or said railway train, which are defined as two different types of carriers in this invention, could be very short in length, so that either said Magnetic Levitation Train or said railway train can be only good for one drone to park on the top of carrier at a time. Meanwhile hundreds or even thousands of these special-designed carriers may move along said Magnetic Levitation rail, or rail, or suspension cable, to transport a significant number of drones simultaneously.

In this invention, a segment of Magnetic Levitation rail, or rail, or suspension cable without divergence can he defined as a route. Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system may either have only one route, or multiple routes so that the drones can switch its travel path from one route to another to reach more potential destinations. It is similar with the scenario in New York subway that a passenger may transfer from Green Line to Yellow Line to reach more NYC subway stations. Upon getting close to the intersection of Route A to Route B, if said drone is about to transfer from Route A to Route B, it may detach itself and take off from the first carrier on Route A, fly a short distance then land on or attach to a designated carrier on Route B, then continue its journey along Route B. There is also another optional technical solution that the carriers may switch its path from one route to another by a lane changer which is similar with the one helping traditional train to change lane.

A route of this drone transportation system can be two-way directional so that thousands of drones may travel back-and-force in two directions along this route, similar with the scenario of a freeway system nowadays for vehicles. A scenario of this kind of transportation activities in this invention can be as magnificent as freeway system nowadays in a mega US city.

Some special-designed docking devices, a wireless communicating system solution and an dispatch system facilitate the integration of multiple drones and Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, so that multiple drones may work with said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system accordingly to achieve said new method of aviation transportation for drones, meanwhile to minimize the risk of collision in the air among said drones and to maximize the utilization of carriers.

A special-designed docking device helps to bind said drone with said carrier firmly then travel forward as a unified object. The same docking device also can release said drone when this drone is about to take off from the carrier.

Each said drone may have a wireless communicating device on board for this drone to communicate with other drones and/or said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system. A cluster of wireless communicating devices both on said drones and said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system form a wireless communicating network of this invented engineer system, to enable said drones, said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to exchange unencrypted data and encrypted data among them.

Dispatch System in the invented engineering system may include three major sub-systems:

A: Flight coordination and anti-collision sub-system.

This Sub-system working with said wireless communicating network is to prevent collision of said drones during their flight. That is to say, during the flights said drones may directly exchange flight data to each other such as location of departure, final destination, flight speed, preset flight routes, real-time flight routes, altitude, wind speed, GPS locations etc. so that each of them can optimize travel routes to avoid collision in the air. Meanwhile said drones may also exchange flight related data with a central server or a server cluster, so that central processing system can coordinate between said drones and said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to schedule flight routes and timetable for each drone.

R: The carrier vacancy reservation sub-system.

This sub-system is to facilitate vacancy-reservation activities among said drones and the carriers on said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, so that said drone can reserve a vacancy on carrier during its flight in the air, or even before said drone takes off from its location of departure.

A typical example of a reservation procedure could be described as, but not limited to, following paragraph:

Said drone may submit a request for a ride to central server of the system of this invention arid give related data of its purposed journey such as GPS of location of departure and destination etc., as the next step the central server may plan a travel route, then assign a carrier on this route for this drone to land onto or attach to. Thus usually this vacancy on the carrier will no more be assigned to other drones unless this journey is canceled or accomplished.

Once said drone flies by itself to land on or attach to this designated carrier, it may travel forward along with this designated carrier for a distance as a unified object. Upon getting close to its destination, said drone may detach itself and take off from this designated carrier, then flies by itself again for a distance and land itself on its final destination. Once said drone left the carrier, the vacancy of carrier it used to occupy immediately becomes available for other drone to preserve.

Section C: Real-time wireless transaction and payment sub-system

This sub-system works between said drone and said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system, so that said drone can preserve a vacancy on a carrier of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system via this wireless payment transaction and payment sub-system. In the most common cases, upon said drone makes the reservation, the owner of said drone will be charged for a fee by the owner of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system. Hence this invention can be also related with a business model of “toll road” based on rule of pay-for-use.

In this invention, if said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is a rail or Maglev rail system, then a portion of the rail, or Maglev rail can be placed in a tube for weather-proof purpose, so said drones can travel forward in tube against all weather conditions.

As an optional feature, a set of non-touch basis electricity charging devices can be installed on said carriers of this invention, or be simply installed along said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system. These devices may conduct non-touch basis electricity-charging towards said drone's battery when said drone is still moving forward together with said carrier as a unified object.

Another important feature which can be associated with this invented integrated engineer system is that it may work with smart phone apps so mass consumers may use smart phone to call for said drone for a Uber or Uber Eats-like passenger or parcel delivery aviation transportation service. In the app the consumer may setup a pick-up location and destination, or choose from a list of them, so a nearby drone can fly over to pick up the passengers or the parcel upon their requests then fly to the nearest route of Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system to join thousands of drones being transported in said drone transportation system.

There are also a few other commercial application scenarios or business models related with this invention, such as: a. large scale parcel delivery service by drones; b. a public aviation transportation system based on the rules of pay-for-use. etc. These can be either for-profit or for-nonprofit applications.

A parcel delivery service by drones related with this invention can be used by parcel shippers such as USPS or Amazon etc., these parcel shippers may even be licensed by inventor to build their own drone transportation system of this invention in a city, so the parcel delivery drones can travel a longer distance with assistance of the multiple routes of said drone transportation system, to reach more potential destinations for parcel delivery. Also, said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can even be build between cities so the parcels can be shipped from one city to another.

A public aviation transportation application related with this invention may be referred to the scenario that the private owners of drones may own their private drones, then use a public Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system for daily commute by drones, still a “toll road” model based on rules of pay-for-use. Thus both the manufacturers of said drones and the builder of Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can make a profit because the manufacturers of said drones can sell their drones to mass consumers meanwhile the builder of said drone transportation system may get daily revenue via “toll”.

A typical pricing model related with this invention, but not limited to, is the builder of said drone transportation system may charge the owners of drones for every mile the drone being transported by said drone transportation system. The rate may vary between peak time and off-peak time, and it also may vary from different application scenarios such as passenger transportation or parcel delivery.

Another type of public aviation transportation application related with this invention may involve some special-designed drones with capacity of many passengers like a public bus, these drones can fly over and stop at multiple pick-up locations to pick up passengers, then fly to a nearby route of drone transportation system to complete the rest of the journey.

A Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system in this invention may transport both said drones for parcel delivery and said drones for passenger simultaneously, just like the freeway system nowadays which can accommodate thousands of passenger vehicles and cargo vehicles simultaneously. 

1. An engineering system that combines multiple drones and an Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system which can transport drones; Said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system can be a suspension cable car system, or a railway system, or a Magnetic Levitation railway system, or a hybrid of any of above; Said engineering system must have a feature that in the middle of flight journey said drones may be transported by said Electro-Mechanical drone transport system to increase said drone's maximum travel distance, also said engineering system must have another feature that said drones may directly or indirectly communicate with said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system via wireless electromagnetic wave, so that said drones may attach to or detach from said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system accordingly.
 2. An engineering system described as claim 1, therein a portion of said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system is placed in a tube for weather proof purpose.
 3. An engineering system described as claim 1, therein said Electro-Mechanical said drone transportation system has multiple divergences and routes to form a network to transport drones to reach more destinations.
 4. An engineering system described as claim 1, while this engineering system may work with a smart phone application to enable passengers or customer to call for said drones via smart phone as a type of passenger or parcel delivery drone aviation services similar with Uber or UberEats.
 5. An engineering system described as claim 1, therein said drones can be charged with electricity on a non-touch basis when said drones are being transported by said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system.
 6. An engineering system described as claim 1, therein said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system has multiple parking lots nearby, so passengers can leave said drones inside these parking lots, and transfer themselves to land transportation vehicles.
 7. An engineering system described as claim 1, therein said drones may use injection engine so that the whole invented system can be used on extraterrestrial objects or extraterrestrial planets.
 8. A method of drone aviation transportation related with said engineering system described as claim
 1. This method of drone aviation transportation must include a phase of transportation during which said Electro-Mechanical drone transportation system transports said drones in the middle of said drones' entire flight journey so said drones do not use energy reserve of their own at this phase. 